Star Trek - The Animated Series (DVD, 2006, 4-Disc Set)

Star Trek The Animated Series maintains the same high standards the fans have come to expect from the original series. While it is still a great debate within trek fandom whether or not the animated series should be recognized as cannon has been left up to the individual fan. I for one consider the animated series to be cannon even though the stardates for the animated series do not correlate with the TOS live action trek which tends to be the base argument of opposing opinions.
While the animated series was very short lived (canceled in the second season) the library of available animated episodes remain entertaining, educative and thought provoking science fiction.
Popular vote would name the episode "More Tribbles, More Troubles" as the beloved fan favorite, paying homage to the live action show as a sort of sequel.
It is my opinion as a third generation Trekkie that the episode "Yesteryear" surpasses the animated Tribble tale in story content and characterization. For me "yesteryear" is the very pinnacle of trek storytelling.
The exceptional talent employed in scriptwriting and voice work for the animated series led to an Emmy award in 1975.
To ensure that the animated series was a success, Gene Roddenberry was personally involved bringing in writers from the original live action show such as D.C. Fontana and David Gerrold.

I am very glad to see this series finally out on DVD. Although Gene Roddenberry later rejected it as part of the official Trek canon (a rather odd decision, considering he was involved in producing it!), many of the early novelists drew upon the Animated Series for various characters, events, and technologies. (In fact, I first met M'ress and Arex through the novels, for the simple reason that the series aired on Saturday morning, which is also the Jewish Sabbath and a time when I do not watch TV.) We should also note that the forerunner of the holodeck appears first in the Animated Series, with an episode featuring holograms in the rec room. And the episode "Yesteryear," about Spock's childhood, was so beloved by fans that it DID eventuly make it into the canon. The animation in this series may seem dated today, but there were some creative ideas and interesting aliens that further developed the Star Trek universe.

I got this to see the old animated Star Trek shows. I have not seen these since the 1970's on Saturday Morning TV.
These shows have great stories and are a continuation of the Original Series.
The animation is of low to average quality. It is not Disney movie quality - but it was never meant to be. It was Saturday Morning Cartoons and this was the way it was made back in the day. I would say the animation is just below Hanna-Barbera in quality - but the stories is what makes this set shine. The packaging is good on this set and matched the packaging on the Original Series DVD season sets.

I had been watching the Star Trek The Animated Series DVD auctions for many months and finalluy got it at a pretty good price... If you have never seen these cartoons when they first came out this is a fabulous addition to any Star Trek fans collection. The introduction of a few new characters and the return of some old familiar cast from Star Trek (TOS) (aka Tribble, Harry Mudd, Sarek, etc) Many thanks to James Doohan for providing his voice talents for many of the extra voices in this series.

For a nice website for a reminder of some of these awesome episodes you may want to check out the following:

http://www.startrek.com/s​tartrek/view/series/ANI/episod​es/index.html

James M
Bloomington Indiana

PS Still working on my complete Star Trek DVD collection...

It is 4 dvd set, each dvd is labeled with an animated picture of the four major characters(1-Kirk, 2-Spock,3-Scotty,and 4-Bones;however, he is referred to as Dr.McCoy in the cartoon)
The first dvd has advertisement but, easy to by pass. Each dvd gives you options to watch individual episodes or play all. Subtitles are available in English,Spanish and Portuguese (Huge help for a young one learning to read). The show aired on Saturday morning cartoon time in the 70's so, the language is rated "G", which is perfect for introducing young people to the world of Star Trek. Some of the story lines continue from the original show but, others are new and cover some odd topics. Also, Captain Kirk behaves himself with the women and unlike the original series, Spock is not the only alien on the Enterprise. The cartoon is colored in bright basic colors and movement is minimal, old style prior to computer assistance. However, the drawings are excellent and it is fun to pause the cartoon and draw the picture and color (Shhh, don't tell anyone I do that).
BIG PLUS, the voice for each cartoon character is the voice from the actor who played the character from the original series. So, being a fan of Star Trek; especially, the original, it is a must have. Live Long and Prosper! and all that Jazz. ;-D